TORI SHORT STORY 11 — BABYSITTING
by ShadowBat48
Summary: Tori is doing a favor for a friend and babysitting her little niece, too bad she didn't know how little that little niece was and she's out of practice! Thankfully some help comes along unexpectedly in the night.


A/N: Now this short story has been in my head for a while and when I was writing it, it just kept going and going and I didn't want to shorten it because I thought it was super cute...so...here it is! Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Enjoy!

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TORI SHORT STORY #11 — BABYSITTING

"Oh come on Bruce!" Tori said into her cell phone. She stood in her dorm room pacing impatiently, "I know I've only just started training again and retraining myself not to kill everyone and thing, but practicing in the field will be more beneficial than working in the Cave!" she was getting peckish, she needed to do _something!_ Sure, most of her practices ended with her practically destroying the training robots and heaving in an unusual bloodlust rage…but she felt that if she tried controlling herself in the field, than she wouldn't hurt people because they were _real_ people. Of course there was still the possibility that that wouldn't work at all and she'd end up killing someone…but they wouldn't know unless they tried right?

 _"Tori, I said no,"_ Bruce monotoned through the phone, _"It's too dangerous to let you out yet. You're still angry about what happened to you and too used to bloodshed and bloodlust,"_

"I am not too used to bloodshed!"

 _"Yes you are. You were there to see the carnage that was the training room a few days ago, you were unreasonably angry and had no regard for what happened to the equipment—_ the people _—in that room,"_

"And what better way to learn restraint than where—,"

 _"—Tori, I said no and that's final!"_

"—but Bruce—!" Tori started only to be interrupted by Jenna marching in her room with a determined but pleading expression on her face,

"I really really really need you to do a favor for me!" she said, pouting a little and making puppy dog eyes. Tori side-glanced her friend,

 _"It seems you have something more important to attend to,"_ Bruce said, amusement and satisfaction in his tone,

"No Bruce don't—!" Tori started, "…hang..up—," she stated when all she heard was the ringtone,

"Sorry to interrupt," Jenna added. Tori took a deep breath and faced her friend with a smile,

"So…what's this favor you need me to do?"

"Okay…so my sister's in Gotham with her husband and daughter. They are going out for the evening with my parents and since I have to study for my finals they asked me to babysit until they got back…it's just that Jeff's going to be visiting and he's only here for a few days so I was just wondering if you could babysit for me?" Jenna said in one big hurried mouthful. Tori looked at her friend with a perplexed expression before shrugging,

"Sure. I'll do it,"

"Really?" Jenna asked, perking up,

"I mean it's not my finals I'll be failing since instead of studying you'll be going on a date with your boyfriend…but that's not my call to make," Jenna rolled her eyes,

"I'll be fine. Besides I have you miss encyclopedia brain. Tim too, and Liam,"

"So we're just your textbooks huh?"

"Of course, and I wouldn't have it any other way," Jenna said smirking at Tori,

"Love ya too," Tori said with an eye roll,

"Okay great! See you at seven!" With that Jenna left the room leaving Tori to sigh at the fact that she won't be able to convince Bruce to let her patrol now at all.

* * *

Tori arrived at Jenna's parents' apartment right on time after mentally preparing herself to care for a small child. She could definitely do this…she had two younger siblings afterall. She should be able to handle a little tiny child that is not her sibling…right? Of course she never had to actually babysit any of her siblings, she had older ones and there was Jess. The only thing she ever really did was hold them occasionally and play with them…she was slightly out of practice dealing with kids,

"Hey? Jenna?" Tori called, as she stepped into the room after her friend had hollered that it was opened,

"Over here in the living room!" Jenna called from somewhere beyond the kitchen and dining room. Tori kicked off her boots and hurried through the foreign apartment to where her friend's voice had come from,

"Okay, now I've set up some toys on the floor and a Pack-n-play in here so she'll be fine to just sleep in here. If she cries a lot just take her out and bounce around with her or maybe play, feed or change her. She may fall asleep sooner rather than later but since she knows I'm leaving she might be a bit difficult,"

"Wait…crying? Playing? _Changing?_ Pack-n-play?" Tori asked in confusion, what kind of kid slept in a Pack-n-play?

"Yeah," Jenna said, standing up straight from looking down into the Pack-n-play. Tori walked over and looking into the Pack-n-play to see a little tiny, definitely not a child baby staring up at her a fist in her mouth with a bit curly red fuzz on the top of her head,

"Jenna…that's a _baby_ ," Tori stated in shock,

"Yeah she's six months…hence the term _babysitting_ ," Jenna said, "You have younger siblings. I thought you'd have—,"

"—yeah, I know. I mean—I…just…it's been a while and you know...Amnesia,"

"Do you not think you can do it?" Jenna asked visibly deflating,

"I'll be fine—," Tori started,

"Great!" Jenna said perking up again, "I gotta go. Jeff's downstairs and if you need any help call me on my cell! Thanks so much for doing this bye!"

"Wait…how do I—," Tori called to her best friend only to wince slightly as the door slammed loud enough to hurt her sensitive ears. Tori stared down at the baby apprehensively and the baby stared back before screwing its eyes shut and starting to wail.

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Tori let the baby wail for fifteen minutes, hoping it was post-I'm being left with a complete stranger crying and not I'm hungry, need to be fed or changed crying because Tori's skills completely lack in that department. Of course Jenna said the baby might wail for a while before going to sleep…but Tori had her doubts. Eventually Tori couldn't take it anymore, the wailing twisted her heart and call it maternal instincts, but she couldn't just leave the baby so miserable for so long. Tori picked the baby up and started bouncing around the living room awkwardly with her,

"Bloodlust my butt," Tori muttered to herself, still mad at Bruce for benching her. Of course he was totally right that she was not ready at all…but she really wanted to be ready. Tori really wanted to make up for what she had done in London and in Gotham. She had killed a lot of people and she needed to do some good to make up for that. Bruce's process was slow and it was hard, she didn't know if she'd even make it to patrol anytime soon. Tori stopped bouncing the wailing baby and stared out the large balcony windows for a moment before looking at the baby in her arms,

"And you have no idea what monster holds you in her arms," Tori murmured softly to the baby. The baby paused in its crying and looked at her with her head cocked slightly to the side causing Tori to chuckle at its expression, which in turn made the baby laugh,

"Is all you needed a good laugh?" Tori asked. The baby smiled in response, "And that wasn't even a joke," the babe let out a sputtered laugh. Tori couldn't help but smile at the baby before turning back to the Pack-n-play and starting to place the her back in when she started to wail again,

"Oh come on," Tori groaned, pulling the baby back in her arms with a grunt, only for the crying to stop, "Are you hungry?" the baby didn't answer, of course it wouldn't but stranger things have happened in Tori's life. So she started to put the baby back down but it started crying again,

"Okay, I'll put you down and get your bottle just in case," Tori said, placing the baby gently on the little mat with the foamy cloth covered arches rising over it that had little rattles and animals dangling from them before heading to the kitchen and snatching the bottle from the fridge. She then darted back to the living room to find…nothing. Tori's heart froze,

"…Baby?" she asked the room, panic settling in…of course the baby couldn't have sprouted wings and flown out of the apartment in the last five seconds…and the doorway to the balcony was locked, Tori had made sure of that. Tori started rummaging around the living room, frantically pulling up couch cushions and pillows and checking under the coffee table and furniture until a knock on the window caused her to yelp in shock. She whirled to face the window her heart racing expecting to see some psychopathic killer only to find a much more sane killer Jason standing there tapping on the glass. Tori glared at him before opening the door,

"What are you doing here?" she demanded,

"I was swinging by and saw you frantically searching the place. What did you lose?"

"A baby," Tori deadpanned,

"Well—hold up…a _what?_ " Tori rolled her eyes impatiently,

"I'm _babysitting_ dummy. Now help me look!" she started back to nearly destroying the furniture to find the baby,

"Tori, calm down. Don't go on a rampage. How old is the baby?"

"Six months," Tori said automatically,

"Then its learned how to roll over," he said, "It'll be on the ground,"

"She,"

" _She_ will be on the ground, not in the couch,"

"And how do you know all this?"

"Trust me when I was Robin and Babs was on patrol with me after she babysat she wouldn't shut up about all these baby facts she'd read. I guess it just stuck,"

"Right," Tori said with an eye roll. She started to turn around only to feel a light nudge on her foot and looked down to see the little baby trying to roll over her foot, "Hello little naughty baby," Tori said picking her up,

"What's her name?" Jason asked, taking his helmet off. Probably to not scare the baby,

"I actually don't know," Tori said, "Jenna left before I could ask,"

"And this baby is her—," Jason started only to trial off unsure of which direction to go,

"Niece,"

"Ah," Jason said,

"Do you want to hold her?"

"No, I don't hold babies…only if I'm rescuing them from a fire," Tori gave him a look before shoving the baby in his arms,

"Hey-what…no…Tori!" Jason groaned as he scrambled to hold the little girl better. Tori just smirked and adjusted his arms so he wouldn't drop her,

"You hold her while I heat up her bottle," and she left before he could complain. When she came back she found Jason sitting on the couch making faces at the baby,

"Her name's Sophia," Jason said,

"Did you just name her or—?" Tori asked, shaking the bottle a little to really mix the formula,

"It was on the tag of her onesie," he replied, taking the bottle from her and began to feed her,

"You're stealing my job mister," Tori said, chuckling as his ears reddened slightly, "I'm just teasing," she added before leaning her head on his shoulder,

"You better not tell anyone about this ever. Especially Tim,"

"What? I can't tell Barbara how her baby facts sunk in so deep you remember them years later? She'd think it's a miracle,"

"Tori," Jason growled,

"I'm kidding. I won't tell a soul," Tori stated rolling her eyes, "…and for the record I find your baby knowledge very hot," it was Jason's turn to roll his eyes,

"Just for that you get to change her diaper later," Tori pouted at him. After she was fed Tori put her on the ground, with a watchful eye on her little mop of hair as she pulled herself into a sitting position to play with the blocks. And then flop down and roll over to a new toy,

"Is it just me or are babies kind of geniuses?" Tori asked as she watch Sophia roll over and grab a stuffed bunny,

"I definitely think they're creative," Jason mused, tilting his head to the side as Sophia tried to pull herself onto the mat with the dangling toys. She hadn't quite learned how to crawl yet so it was a struggle for a while before Tori—who saw that she was about to cry in frustration— got up and helped her onto the mat,

"In anticipation of a smelly diaper, I'm going to figure out where the clean ones are," Tori said, "Jenna didn't exactly explain the layout of the apartment in detail before running off to her boyfriend-I mean leaving." When she returned she found Jason laying on his back with his head under the arches pushing the dangling toys towards Sophie,

"This thing is actually quite entertaining," Jason said by way of explanation. Tori just rolled her eyes and lay down across from him with Sophie's head in the center of their mini triangle,

"Not a word to anyone," Jason said again, as he smacked a dangling moose towards Sophia,

"I promised," Tori said, "But you never said anything about a picture!" she sing-songed before pulling out her phone and snapping a selfie,

"No! Tori!" Jason growled, springing to his feet, "Give me the phone,"

"Nope," Tori said standing and smiling sweetly,

"Tori,"

"No,"

" _Toria_ ,"

"Nicknames won't save you," Tori said crossing her arms. Jason only looked annoyed, not exactly angry so she didn't see him as much of a threat. Sophia on the other hand didn't like the raised voices and started crying, "Now look what you did," Tori said, "Did the scary man make you cry,"

"I did nothing! This was all you!" Jason cried, which caused Sophia to cry louder,

"I think it's bedtime," Tori said, then sniffing the air and crinkling her nose in disgust, "No, first diaper change then bedtime...damn what was in that formula," she started to walk out of the room but Jason stopped her,

"Phone," he said holding out his hand, his blue green eyes pleading,

"Ugh, you look like a sad baby seal…I can't say no," Tori said placing her phone in his hand, "but good luck guessing my password," she stated, standing on her tiptoes to give him a peck on the cheek before changing Sophia's diaper and putting her in the pack-n-play,

"Touché," Jason said handing the phone back to her, "But I got my revenge by locking you out of your phone for three hours,"

"Ugh! Jason you didn't," Tori groaned,

"I did!" Jason said, snagging a kiss before putting his helmet back on and moving to the balcony, "Have fun!" he called as he leapt from the railing,

"Asshole," Tori muttered, glaring at her phone.

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A/N: Aw...that was just so cute. Okay. Next short story on Tuesday. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!


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